Liberian Man Copyrights the Law

oatworm writes "From ForeignPolicy.com, 'Six years after a civil war that killed 250,000 and displaced hundreds of thousands more, justice is at the top of Liberia's list of needs. But in this small West African country of 3.5 million, the problem isn't a lack of courtrooms or trained lawyers. Liberia is wanting for the actual laws themselves. The country's legal code doesn't exist in print except for a few mismatched volumes here and there, sequestered in incomplete sets in libraries in the capital, Monrovia. And right now, as far as legal advocates can tell, even Liberia's national parliament doesn't have a full copy of the law. Why not? Because the few volumes that do exist have been quietly copyrighted — and subsequently held ransom — by the man in charge of Liberia's legal reform. Across the country, lawyers, courtrooms, and even the government are operating blindly; it's impossible to be certain if they are following a legal code they don't have.'"

This shouldn't be in idle

[JoshuaZ]

This is a serious example of what happens when copyright gets taken to ridiculous extremes. Moreover, there have been prior examples in the United States with states and cities trying to copyright their legal codes. This sort of absurdity is an even more extreme version of this. I'm not in favor of abolishing copyright, but I have trouble not being tempted to that view when reading this article.

Historical precedent ...

[RockDoctor]

If my memory serves correctly, one Vlad Tepes one got annoyed at self-righteously officious bureaucrats who refused to take their hats off when visiting him. So he had their hats attached to their heads, with nails. Long nails, I hope.

I suspect that the Liberian government could come up with a mutually agreeable solution ... something like "you give up the copyright claim and we'll remove the obligation on copyright holders to be liver donors."